LAST FRIDAY, A COLLECTIVE SIGH OF RELIEF was heard across the nation. Our president
forgives us.

Bill Clinton interrupted his Martha's Vineyard vacation to talk at a church in Oak Bluffs
on the 35th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Since his original, halfhearted, highly qualified apology was so poorly received
(burdened as it was with arrogant defiance and reality avoidance -- not exactly the
"Confessions" of St. Augustine), the masters of spin decided something more was
needed.

The result was even less persuasive than the first attempt.

The presidential penitent and pardoner reflected that "the resentment, the bitterness,
the recrimination against the people you believe have wronged you" result in
"self-inflicted wounds."

"And so it is important that we are able to forgive those we believe have
wronged us, even as we ask for forgiveness from people we have wronged,"
the president sermonized.

Aides declined to elaborate on his remarks. Who is Clinton forgiving and why?

Speculation centered on special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Is the president forgiving
Starr for doing the job assigned to him by a three-judge panel of the federal appeals
court (at the behest of Attorney General Janet Reno) and for following the trail of
evidence wherever it leads?

Or perhaps the president is suggesting that he forgives the American people for what
he considers to be our voyeuristic interest in his personal life and our refusal to let him
get on with the business of governing while a cloud the size of the Himalayas hovers
over his head.

Sing hosannahs. Clinton forgives us for caring whether our highest elected official
misused his position and violated the trust conferred on him by turning the Oval Office
into Monica's House of Submission.

He forgives us for our obsessive concern about whether he lied under oath and
attempted to obstruct justice.

Clinton excuses us for expecting him to keep his oath to faithfully discharge the duties
of his office. He pardons us for expecting the most powerful man in America to abide
by the law of the land.

Clinton spoke of forgiveness. But what he seeks is to escape the consequences of his
clearly immoral and possibly criminal conduct.

Forgiveness is a religious concept that implies soul-searching and sincere contrition. It
doesn't work like a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Let's be clear about one thing: The president didn't the past seven months in emotional
turmoil agonizing over his sins before deciding to unburden himself.

He spent seven months lying and sending out his staff and friends to lie on his behalf.
He spent seven months stonewalling, evoking claims of privilege that brought peals of
laughter from the federal bench.

Only when Starr had conclusive evidence of the presidential rake's "inappropriate
relationship," and after Clinton himself spent four hours being grilled before the grand
jury, did he confess to something. We're still not sure what.

Bill Clinton is a desperate politician engaging in damage control, not a humbled spirit,
wracked with guilt, admitting his transgressions.

Even when driven by necessity, Clinton couldn't disguise his self-righteousness.

In his 5-minute speech of Aug. 17, the president told us his relationship with Monica
Lewinsky "was not appropriate" (without specifying how it was inappropriate) and that
he regretted misleading people (without telling how he misled them).

He then went on to explain us that "presidents have private lives" (a fact heretofore
unnoticed) and that his deviant behavior in the White House was none of our business.
Not exactly the cry of an anguished heart.

Judaism and Christianity both put great emphasis on repentance, confession and
forgiveness. Both also stress responsibility and consequences.

On Feb. 4, Karla Faye Tucker was executed by the state of Texas for her role in a grisly
double murder in 1984. On death row, Tucker became a born-again Christian. Unlike
Clinton's, her remorse seemed genuine.

Still, after her conversion, her victims were every bit as dead as they had been before.
Confession and repentance do not obviate the necessity of punishment.

Whatever Clinton says (and he'll have much to say shortly, as the net closes), lies were
told, trust was breached, the office of president was demeaned, and laws were broken.

For that, there must be a reckoning.

8/31/98: Ashcroft's plain talking touches responsive chord8/26/98: Public opinion be damned8/24/98: Why liberals condone Clinton's lies8/20/98: Time to move on -- to impeachment8/12/98: With Bubba in the sexual privacy zone8/10/98: The truth won't set Clinton free8/06/98: Truth about Hiroshima is incontrovertible8/04/98: Clinton not the first hollow president7/30/98: "Small Soldiers" -- a fractured Vietnam allegory7/27/98: Crime wave hits hometown7/22/98: Love in an Internet fishbowl7/20/98: Ads bring ex-gay movement out of closet7/15/98: Brian and Amy -- the children of Roe7/13/98: Why are we scared of obnoxious 'activists?'
7/6/98: Fonda still resists reality7/1/98: New York blesses domestic partnerships6/29/98: Teddy and Calvin stood for virtue6/24/98: Will Clinton betray Taiwan?6/22/98: Big tobacco? What about big casinos?6/15/98: Religion -- God for what ails you
6/10/98: Planning Clinton's China itinery6/8/98: Republicans' Custer offers advice
6/4/98: Oh, Dems Christian-bashers!
6/2/98: Goldwater did conservatives more harm than good 5/27/98: A Clinton-hater confesses 5/15/98: Giuliani's assault on marriage5/13/98: Hillary knows what's best for everyone
5/11/98: To honor her would not be honorable5/6/98: Conservative chasm: pragmatism vs. worship of marketplace5/4/98: Anglo-saxon me
4/29/98:
Needle exchange programs are assisted-suicide
4/27/98: Chretien's mission of mercy to Fidel 4/22/98: School-choice is a religious freedom issue4/20/98: Corporate execs deliver body parts to Beijing4/14/98: National sales tax --- looks better all the time
4/13/98: The U.N. sinister? Hey, where did that idea come from?
4/8/98: Unions fight workers rights in 226 campaign3/30/98: Africa's leaders should apologize3/25/98: GOP shouldn't look to media for advice3/22/98: You should care about Clinton's 'private life'3/19/98: Color-coded reading, product of obsessive minds3/16/98: Amendment will end exile of G-d from our public lives3/9/98: Havana will break your heart3/2/98: Vouchers Terrify Teachers' Union2/25/98: Presidential politics starts at a resort hotel2/23/98: Hillary's support comes at a price2/18/98: How many times must we say "no" to gay rights?2/16/98: Enoch Powell spoke the truth on immigration2/11/98: Bubba behaving badly2/9/98: A conservative dissent on the flag-burning amendment2/5/98: We get the leaders we deserve2/2/98: Send a signal that could penetrate boardroom doors1/27/98: State of the president: hollow rhetoric1/25/98: For Monica's playmate, we have no one to blame but ourselves1/22/98: At Yale, bet on yarmulke over gown1/19/98: Commission tackles America's fastest-growing addiction, gambling
1/15/98: Capital punishment and the hard case: no exceptions for Karla Faye Tucker
1/12/98: Partial-birth abortion and the GOP's future: the "big tent" meets truth in advertising
1/8/98: IOLTA: the Left's latest scam to crawl into our pockets
1/5/98: Connect the dots to create a terrorist state1/1/98: The Unacceptables of 1997: Long may they rave12/28/97: Hypocrisy is a liberal survival mechanism12/23/97: Chanukah is no laughing matter12/22/97: No merry Christmas for persecuted Christians around the world12/18/97: Bosnia, Haiti, and how not to conduct a foreign policy